Knitted fabric



. Feb. 1, 1944. HOLMEs ETAL 2,340,664

' KNITTED FABRIC Filed July 15, 1942- 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 may. I

Feb. 1, 1944.

m z/vraag Feb. 1, 1944. H. H. HOLMES EI'AL 2,340,664

KNITTED FABRIC Patented Feb. 1, 1944 UNITED STAT KNITTED FABRIC Henry Harold Holmes and John Cyril Herbert Hurd, Leicester, England, assignors to Wildt and Company Limited British company Leicester, England, a

Application July 15, 1942, Serial No. 451,045 In Great Britain July 25, 1941 4 Claims.

This invention appertains to improvements in knitted fabric, the object of the invention being to produce what is believed to be a novel fabric of a particularly attractive appearance adapted for use for a variety of purposes, but especially for articles of clothing, as will be hereinafter set forth.

In one aspect the invention consists of'a patterned knitted fabric in which the pattern comprises purl stitch eii'ects and open or lace stitch effects.

The combination of purl stitch effects and open or lace effects in one and the same fabric produces a fabric which may be both ornamental and cellular and is strikingly attractive.

The appearance of the fabric may also be further enhanced by the addition of embroidery plating, such for example as lap or wrap striping efiects.

The invention may be carried into effect in purl knitted fabric of the simplest form comprising complete courses of purl stitches alternating with complete courses of plain stitches, the additional effects being produced in the plain stitch portions of the fabric. By the expression additional effects employed in this description and in the appended claims is meant the open or lace stitch effects with or without the embroidery efiects as aforesaid.

Alternatively, the fabric may include courses composed partly of purl stitches and partly of plain stitches with the additional effects produced in the plain stitch portions.

Thus in one embodiment of the invention the additional efiects are produced in areas composed of plain stitches interspersed or in association with areas composed of purl stitches. For example, the purl stitch effects may form solid or hollow figures, stripes, panels, bands or the like, or any desired combination of these, or may form other broken designs or patterns, and the plain areas may be of substantially the same character.

Alternatively, the fabric may include so-called jacquard purl designs in combination with the desired additional effects.

The invention is applicable to knitted fabric, flat or tubular, knitted in the piece, i. e., in a continuous manner, intended to be cut up subsequently for manufacture into garments such as pullovers, slipovers, jumpers, jackets and like outerwear, and to lengths of fabric knitted in string formation and joined by separating or parting courses or/and draw threads so as to enable them to be readily separated, as well as to knitted articles, such as stockings, half-hose, socks or the like knitted separately, or produced in string formation with separating or parting courses or/and draw threads as and for the purpose aforesaid. Accordingly, the expression knitted fabric wherever used in this description and in the claims appended thereto is to be regarded as including garment lengths or articles as well as fabric knitted in a continuous manner.

The invention is also to be regarded as including knitted fabric of the patterned or fancy character hereinbefore set forth comprising a weit, a rib knitted course, or courses such as may form the ribbed Waist band of a slipover, pullover or jumper or the ribbed top of a stocking, halfhose or sock, and a main portion with purl stitch effects and additional effects as aforesaid, produced in longitudinal sequence. In this connection the rib knitted course or courses may be of ordinary rib, such as of 1/1 or 2/2 combination, or when there are several courses the ribbed portion produced may be of any desired fancy character. When. such fabric is produced in the form of garment lengths or articles in string formation with repetition of the sequence aforesaid, and with a separating or parting course or draw thread between the welt of one length orarticle and the main portion of the next, a

finished edge is produced at one end of each garment length or article when the said lengths or articles are separated by removal of the separaiing or parting courses or the draw threads.

In order that the invention may be more cleariy understood and readily carried into practical effect, some examples of the improved patterned fancy fabric will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a structure diagram, drawn to a greatly enlarged scale, illustrating the back, i. e., rear face, of a representative portion of the improved fabric,

Figure 2 depicts a specimen garment and purports to show one particular way in which pelerine stitch effects and wrap striping or embroidery effects may be distributed within portions composed of plain stitches interspersed with purl stitch portions, and

Figure 3 is a diagram showing garment lengths of the improved patterned or fancy character produced in string formation.

Like parts are designated by similar reference characters throughout the drawings.

The portion of fabric represented in Figure 1 is shown as it leaves the needles of the machine upon which it is produced, and comprises a roll welt A, an adjoining portion B of 2/2 rib knitting, a narrow band C of purl knitted fabric of the simplest form comprising a complete course of purl stitches ps between complete courses pc of plain stitches, a following portion of plain fabric D which is relieved by spaced rib Wales no and patterned both with pelerine stitch effects and lap or wrap striping or embroidery effects marked F and G respectively, and an adjoining portion E embodying distributed purl stitches ps constituting a so-called jacquard purl design. The spaced needle wales are indicated at nw, while the intervening sinker wales are designated sw. The pelerine stitch effects F are each produced by the use of a pair of transfer instruments working together; as will be seen, sinker Wale loops 3 from two successive courses are both transferred laterally in opposite directions and meshed with loops Z in adjoining needle wales nw. The fabric is knitted from a single main yarn which, for convenience in illustration, is left unshaded. On the other hand, the continuous lap or wrap striping or embroidery thread It from which the effects G are produced is shaded for emphasis. This thread is incorporated in predetermined wales, and wherever it is intermeshed with the main yarn it only shows on the face or front of the fabric. In the particular example illustrated the thread It is intermeshed with groups of plain stitches at the points marked X in spaced needle wales. At these points there is, of course, embroidery plating, and the portion Zt of the embroidery thread extending across the back of the fabric is is the form of a float. The particular effects G shown in Figure 1 are produced by shogging, for which purpose the guide by which the thread It is supplied to plain needles is shogged laterally over a plain needle as will be clear to those acquainted with the knitting art. The structure diagram just described purports merely to show examples of the various effects which may be combined in a single piece of fabric, no attempt having been made to show a portion of any particular pattern or design.

One of the many possible distributions of the various fancy effects within the plain and purl stitch areas is depicted diagrammatically in Figure 2 which represents a circular knitted pullover having a welt w and a 2/2 ribbed waist band wb. The ground of the patterned body portion of the garment consists of plain areas pa and pa in the form of solid squares surrounded by areas pk of purl knitting. The purl knitting is of the simplest form comprising courses of purl stitches alternating with courses of plain stitches. In the plain areas pa are produced pelerine stitch effects represented by the small circles c, whereas the embroidery stitch effects es produced in the plain areas pa form inner, hollow squares. Portions of broken vertical lap or wrap stripes ls extend between the plain areas pa the embroidery stitches constituting the said stripes being produced in the plain courses of the purl knitting pic. The solid squares pa of each series are disposed point to point in the walewise direction. The same applies to each series of the squares pa Moreover, the plain areas respectively incorporating the pelerine and the embroidery stitch effects are in staggered relation, and the vertical series of squares pa alternate with the series of squares pa right around the garment.

In Figure 3 which represents garment lengths in string formation, the portion H of each such length consists of narrow bands T1) of rib knitting alternating with similar bands pb of plain knitting in which latter bands are produced lap or wrap striping effects Is. The portion I of each garment length comprises vertical panels at of plain knitting, alternating with panels of 2 and 2 purl knitting plc in each of which last mentioned panels is aplan area 10a of the particular shape depicted. By 2 and 2 purl knitting is meant knitting throughout which two successive purl courses alternate with two successive plain courses. Pelerine stitch effects 0 disposed to form a pleasing design are produced in at least some of the plain areas pa whereas at least one of the panels (1 incorporates embroidery stitch effects es consisting of a, vertical series of hollow squares disposed point to point and a zig-zag line of embroidery stitches on each side of the said squares.

What We claim then is:

1. Knitted fabric which includes purl stitches and plain stitches, with wale loops transferred to adjacent needle wales to form openwork lace effects in the said plain stitches, and wrap effects in desired courses.

2. Knitted fabric which includes purl stitches and plain stitches, with wale loops transferred to adjacent needle wales to form openwork lace effects in the said plain stitches, and wrap effects in desired courses, said lace effects and wrap effects being in the same wales but in different courses respectively.

3. Knitted fabric which includes purl stitches and plain stitches, pelerine stitches in a coursewise succession of said plain stitches, wale loops transferred to adjacent needle Wales to form openwork lace effects in. said plain stitches, and wrap effects in desired courses.

4. Knitted fabric which includes purl stitches and plain stitches, pelerine stitches in a coursewise succession of said plain stitches, wale loops transferred to adjacent needle wales to form openwork lace effects in said plain stitches, and wrap effects in desired courses, said lace effects and wrap effects being in the same wales but in different courses respectively.

- HENRY HAROLD HOLMES.

JOHN CYRIL HERBERT HURD. 

